Houryou means good catch (of fish). Recently, they placed this boat in their premises. What a surprise!

豊漁とはgood catch (of fish)という意味です。最近、この船が敷地内に設置されました。ビックリしました。

Sorry, too drunk to provide any decent descriptions.

すみませんが、酔っていて、まともな説明ができません。

Edited to add: Now that I am sober, I can provide some descriptions.

追記： もうしらふになったので、ちょっと説明を付けます。

A mug of beer and the otoshi (squid) last night:

ジョッキ一杯のビールと昨日のお通し：

An otoshi is a small appetizer that you are served first when you enter an izakaya.
NOTE: An otoshi is not free. You will be charged for it. Roughly, an otoshi is around 300-500 yen.
お通しとは、居酒屋に入って最初に出されるちょっとしたappetizerです。
注： お通しは無料ではありません。料金を請求されます。大まかに言って、お通しの値段は300～500円程度です。
Otoshi: 330 yen
Beer: Complimentary, thanks to the izakaya's flyer that we brought with us, which said you are entitled to a complimentary mug of beer if you bring it with you.
お通し： 330円
ビール： 無料（持っていけばビールが一杯無料でもらえると書いてあった居酒屋のチラシを持って行ったため）

I ordered the shochu and soft drink nomi houdai (drink as much as you can) (90 minutes) plan (1,490 yen).
This plan enables you to select two from among 20 appetizers. As requested by my daughter, I selected french fries (fried potato in Japanese), and
私は焼酎・ソフトドリンク飲み放題（90分）プラン（1,490円）を頼みました。
このプランでは、20種類のおつまみから２種類選べます。娘のリクエストに従って、フライドポテトを選び、

I selected chicken karaage.
鶏の唐揚げを選びました。

A glass of shochu diluted with water.
水で薄めた焼酎：

I had five or so glasses of shochu in total, by diluting with different liquids (green tea, oolong tea, orangeade, and ginger ale).
焼酎は、薄める液を変えながら（緑茶、ウーロン茶、オレンジジュース、ジンジャエール）、全部で５杯くらい飲みました。

We also had nina (pronounced nee-na around here in Niigata):
煮菜（新潟のこの辺りでは「にーな」と発音）も食べました：

This nina was given by my wife's father. This particular one contains sake kasu (lees) and abura age. Here in the Uonuma region of Niigata prefecture, nina is made by first desalting pickled nozawana. In other regions of Niigata, pickled daikon leaves and taisai (or taina; Brassica rapa) are used. Anyway, nina is a very, very popular dish in Niigata.
この煮菜は妻の父からもらったものです。酒かすと油揚げが入っています。新潟県の魚沼地域では、煮菜は、まず野沢菜漬けを塩抜きして作ります。新潟県の他の地域では、大根の葉っぱや体菜（たいさい、たいな）が使われます。ともかく、新潟では煮菜はとっても一般的な料理です。

The label says, "Kaori to matsutake no hagotae" (Aroma and the texture of matsutake). As requested by my son, my wife put it in clear soup. I can't comment how it smelled or tasted because we let my son have all of it. My son asked me to buy two packs next time.
ラベルには「香りとまつたけの歯ごたえ」と書いてあります。息子のリクエストで、妻は澄まし汁に入れました。どんな香り、味なのかコメントできません。すべて息子に食べさせてあげたので。息子は今度は２パック買ってっと言ってました。

March 21, 2013

Last Thursday, I got just a lot of nozawana from my father. I measured them, and they were 3.8 kg in total. Just too much to use up for a few days, so I decided to pickle them, although it is very unusual to pickle nozawana around this time of year. They are usually pickled in late November to December. I googled for a good recipe, but there were just too many of them, so I just added 3% (3.8 kg x 0.03 = 114 g) salt and one red pepper.

Today, I took some of them and put some in my nukadoko.
今日は少し出して、少し、ぬか床に入れました。

Something that's not usually done, but I wanted to have something similar to daikon leaf nukazuke.
普通はしないことですが、大根の葉っぱのぬか漬けに似たようなものを食べたかったので。

I finely chopped the rest to mix with natto.
残りは、納豆と混ぜるため、細かく刻みました。

To make "kirizai", of course! Kirizai is a very popular local dish here in the Uonuma region of Niigata whose main ingredients are natto and nozawana zuke.

もちろん、「きりざい」を作るためです！きりざいとは、新潟の魚沼地域でとても一般的な郷土料理で、納豆と野沢菜が主な材料です。

I also made kinshobai today. To make kinshobai, you don't necessarily have to dry dried bonito shavings on very low heat for a long time, say, five minutes. Just dry them in a frying pan on very low heat for about 2 min., constantly stirring with chopsticks. When they have cooled, you can easily crumble them into powder with your hand.

My wife made these large kakiage as part of supper last night. She also made something I don't know the name of (darker ones; deep-fried grated potatoes + tempura batter). She said her mother used to make them.
昨日の夕飯には、妻が大きなかき揚げを作りました。また、何と言うのか私には分からないもの（黒いほう。おろしたジャガイモと天ぷらの衣を揚げたもの）も作りました。妻の母が昔作っていたそうです。

We had them with soba. I had only one kakiage and some soba because I'm on a diet.
そばを一緒に食べました。私はダイエット中なので、かき揚げは一つだけ、それとそばを少し食べました。

March 20, 2013

Today is Shunbun no Hi, or Vernal Equinox Day, and it's a national holiday in Japan. Shunbun no Hi is the chuu-nichi (middle day) of the Spring O-Higan. In Japan, we have two O-Higan in a year, in the spring and in the fall, and each O-Higan is one week long (three days before the chuu-nichi and three days after the chuu-nichi, thus, seven days in total). People hold a memorial service for their ancestors in each O-Higan. Shuubun no Hi, or Autumnal Equinox Day, is the chuu-nichi of the Autumn O-Higan.

We have botamochi in the Spring O-Higan, and ohagi in the Autumn O-Higan.

Here are some some botamochi, given to us by my wife's brother. He said they were entirely made by his father.

Note: Today, I checked four supermarket flyers and was surprised to find that they all used the word ohagi, not botamochi. Does the word ohagi sound better???
注： 今日、スーパーのチラシを４枚調べたのですが、すべて、「ぼたもち」ではなく、「おはぎ」という言葉を使っていました。おはぎの方が良く聞こえるのでしょうか？？？

March 19, 2013

In
present Japan, it is customary to say Itadakimasu before having a meal and
Gochisou sama deshita or Gochisou sama (less polite) after having a meal. The
important thing to remember is that these phrases are considered forms of
greeting in Japanese, so it's hard not to say them if you are with someone else
when eating. Even if you are alone, you can or may want to say them to
yourself.

There
is surprisingly little reliable information as to how this nationwide custom
got started. I found three sites that sound plausible, of which this one(Japanese only) is the most detailed.

I can never be sure, but I think it is safe to say the following:

The phrases "Itadakimasu" and "Gochisou sama deshita", as well as similar expressions, existed before the Taisho period (1912-1926), but saying them before and after a meal was not a nationwide custom. The custom spread gradually in the Taisho period to the early Showa period (1926 and after), when the hakozen*1 was replaced by the chabudai*2, and became nationwide due to school education after World War II.

*1 A hakozen (lit. box table) is a wooden box used to contain a rice bowl, a soup bowl, a pair of chopsticks, plates, etc. When turned upside down, the lid served as a tray. It was used from the Edo period to the Meiji period (1868-1912). Everyone had their own hakozen.
A photo of a hakozen can be found here.Other photosResults of a Google image search for hakozen

*2 A chabudai is a low table invented around the 20s of the Meiji period (1887). In contrast to the hakozen, everyone sat at the single chabudai. It became popular throughout the country in the late 1920s. It was replaced by a dining table in and after 1960.Results of a Google image search for chabudai

Note: Whether to put your hands together before saying Itadakimasu (and Gochisou sama deshita)
Access the first site linked to, and scroll down until you see a map of Japan.
The black square indicates a place where the people responded they put their hands together.
The black-and-white square indicates a place where some people responded they do and others responded otherwise.
The white square indicates a place where the people responded they make a bow or do something else (put their hand on their laps?).
For example, at my children's elementary school, located in Niigata, students are taught to put their hands together before saying Itadakimasu and Gochisou sama deshita.

Edited to add:

Note 2: Suppose you are in a restaurant with someone else, and your order comes first and you want to start having it immediately, what should you say to your companion? Say "Osakini itadakimasu". Your companion will say things like, "Dozo, dozo".

Note 3: Other phrases considered forms of greetings in Japanese include:

The important thing is to remember is not to move the lower chopstick and to make sure that the two chopsticks meet at their very ends so that you can easily pick up a small object such as a bean.
大事なことは、下の箸を動かさないこと、そして２つの箸（はし）が端（はし）で合わさるようにすることです。そうすれば、小さな物（豆など）を簡単につまむことができます。

March 13, 2013

My wife made korokke as part of supper last night, as requested by my son.
昨日の夕飯は、息子のリクエストに応えて、妻がコロッケを作りました。

Photo of leftovers:
残りの写真：

The korokke contained some ground pork, which brings me back to the same old question: What is the difference between korokke and menchi? My understanding is that a korokke is mostly mashed potato with some stir-fried onion and contains NO MEAT, while a menchi is mashed potato with some stir-fried onion and contains SOME MEAT. In short, a menchi is a deluxe version of korokke, with the addition of some meat. 50 years ago, when I was a kid, that was true, at least in my area in Tokyo. My wife keeps saying that a menchi is a deep-fried "hamburger patty" (or something similar to it). In present Japan, I think she is right.
コロッケには豚の挽き肉が入っていました。私はまた同じ疑問を思い出しました：コロッケとメンチの違いとは？。私の考えでは、コロッケは、つぶしたジャガイモが主で、それに炒めた玉ねぎが入っていて、肉は全く入っていないもの、メンチもつぶしたジャガイモに炒めた玉ねぎが入っていて、肉が少し入ったもの。簡単に言えば、メンチは、肉が入った、コロッケのデラックス版です。私が子供だった50年前、少なくとも、東京の私の住む地域ではそうだったのですが、妻はメンチとはハンバーグ（またはハンバーグに似たもの）を揚げたものと言っています。現在の日本では、妻のほうが正しいと思います。